We have discussed this many times at NYCJUG. We did start one or more language-specific attempts to link show how to accomplish things in J equivalent to common commands in other languages. I think there is an APL/J attempt somewhere and there's this start of a BASIC/J one: http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/NYCJUG/2008-03-11?highlight=%28rosetta%29#Visual_Basic_Rosetta:_String_Functions .
Perhaps we need to start a rosetta page with common computer science terms and their J equivalents. On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 1:04 PM, Skip Cave <[email protected]> wrote: > The JSoftware site has a tremendous amount of useful information on it, > probably more than most programming language sites. However, it is just > incredibly difficult to find information that one needs relevant to a > specific issue. > > The "Getting Started" set of articles on the JSoftware site is a good way > to introduce a newbie to the language, but most newbies won't want to plow > through the complete set of docs suggested on those pages. A typical > programmer will read some of the overview docs, and then start searching > for topics relevant to a specific problem they want to solve. That's when > they get into trouble. > > There are several reasons for this. A major problem is the semantics that J > uses. J semantics (eg. noun, verb, rank, hook, fork) are markedly different > than other programming languages. So when a newbie searches for typical > programming issues (function, subroutine, class, etc.) he is met with an > uncomprehending "blank stare" from the Wiki, as the search returns minimal, > mostly confusing, results. > > Also, It is the nature of the Wiki mechanism that there is no strong, > central organizing scheme. The J Wiki has contributions from many authors, > who often have different ideas on how their submissions are titled and > categorized. This means that articles on similar topics can be in > completely different sections, with very different titles. A good example > of this is if you type in "FAQ" in the search box, the first article tells > you how to create a FAQ in the Wiki. > > I posted this to start a discussion on how we can improve this issue. I > have some ideas, which I will present in another post. I have a meeting to > attend now. > > -- > Skip Cave > Cave Consulting LLC > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Devon McCormick, CFA ^me^ at acm. org is my preferred e-mail ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
